The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Headlight Question

Hi I have a 1954 3600 that I will be converting too 12 volts soon , My question is . Does anyone know of replacement headlights that have replacable H4 bulbs and not with the turn signals in the bottom , I dont want sealed beams as I intend too drill below the bulb and put in a rubber bulb holder from a old motorcycle speedo I have and use these as my park lights.

there is no such animal, would require a different bucket, different alignment setup, and a separate glass lens covering, like 30's vehicles that didn't have sealed beams originally

Bill

Hi Bill think I may have cracked it, I took out my headlamp measured it and its practically the same as the head lamp thats used on the 1970/80's Triumph Bonnevilles , and I know I bought a hella replacement for that . Hella headlights
Think I might pull the one from my Triumph and try it for sure

This is what you're looking for. These are from Mooneyes, but other comapnies that sell hotrod parts have similar headlamps. The fit right into the existing buckets, no alterations. I have see them with a separate socket for a park/daytimg running lamp that is not part of the lens like some of the others with built-in parklamps. I don't recall who had them, though.
BTW, I have them in the '55, with the bulbs upgraded to H4 Silverstars.

Thanks Bill I will check them out as I would like too use the original park lights as my turn signals

Ryan
I installed a new bulb socket to accept an 1156A bulb for my turn signals in the park light housings. The A is for amber and with the clear glass lens they seem to be very visible. I am glad I did it.

There is an interesting post on the VCCA site about a headlight upgrade. One of the members lives in Germany and he is working on a 1940 Chev sedan which he imported from the US. By law, he has to convert all his lights to 12v and the headlights must be a non sealed beam type. He is going to use Volkswagen Golf headlights as he says they are the closest to fitting.

Lucas style headlamps units for Brit cars will fit straight into your buckets. I have classic (i.e. '60s) Mini H4 headlamps in my '50 truck -these have bulbholders for parking lamps built in too. I use the original park lights as turn signals with Europe legal orange bulbs installed.

Don't suppose there are many classic Minis in the US, but MGA, MGB and Triumph TR3,4,5 and 6 all use the same size headlight as the Mini, so shouldn't be too hard to find with H4 bulbholders where you are.

Don't know anbot the Bonneville lamps you've been looking at, but most Lucas motorcycle headlamps were made for "vertical dip" so won't light up the edge of the road when you switch from main beam -certainly my '63 Triumph 500 had this setup fitted.

Stuart.

Hands down the best replacement housing you can buy is an E-code Cibie.

The housing with the park light you want is - 7-HCRA 7" "E-code" Halogen Low / High Beam Cibie H4 with European Parking Lamp.


I have been running a set in my 59 VW truck for 15 years. I run 55/60
watt bulbs. The only thing I did was add relays and made sure the grounds were good . The improvment is is night and day.

Hella makes a decent unit too

Thank you all for the fantastic information, And stuart your correct I forgot about the vertical dip on Motorcycles, But you all given me fantastic information . Plus plenty of options thankyou.